Flashing a press pass can give you a free pass with law enforcement.
So says Vancouver-based social media star Kris Krug, who Saturday in Copenhagen, Denmark, found himself at the centre of a chaotic police crackdown on protestors during a march for a fair and equitable pact on climate change solutions.
Police arrested 968 people during the demonstration with 13 still in custody yesterday, according to reports.
"These people were a little bit more angry about the whole thing," Krug said of the demonstrators who surrounded him. "To them, it's not about climate change but it's about system change [and] changing world governments."
Krug is taking pictures at the international summit for the TckTckTck coalition of prominent non-government organizations including World Vision, Greenpeace and Amnesty International.
"It's a little strange," he said of his brush with police. "I've never been in an environment like this. I only kept myself from being arrested by showing my media credentials."
Despite a wave of more than 1,100 arrests over the weekend, Krug said the majority of people at the conference are working peacefully to successfully lobbying through activism and social media campaigns.
Krug plans to remain in the thick of climate summit talks until Dec. 20.
"My main deal here, guy, is to like follow my nose when it comes to photos," he explained. "Be where the important things are happening and then provide those photos to journalists under a creative commons licence."
